NOS Tubes - Agony or Ecstasy -Part II - The Search


I thought I would do an update on my search for Tubes for my Don Sach's 6sn7 based Preamp.  The amp came with Shuguang we6sn7's.  Decent tubes once you get some good ones. About 3  out of 10 are bad.

So I started a search for some fine NOS tubes. Found the great reference threads on the Dehavilland and Head-HiFi sites as a starting point. I researched every possible seller except for Ebay, I won't buy anything on Ebay anymore.  I ended up buy tubes from a variety of sellers. Here are my experiences. Certainly not intending to critique any particular seller, just sharing my buying experiences.

I need matched pairs and wanted to mix brands including 50's RCAs, VT231's, 40/50's Sylvanias and Ken Rad.

Brent Jesse Recording equipment - ordered a pair of chrome top Sylvania's.  One tube dead on arrival. Sent them back and exchanged for a pair of older Sylvanias (bottom getter 2 rivet). He labeled them as "Bad Boys" but they are clearly not the 3 rivet version.  These tubes were so Microphonic they were completely unusable. One of them actually would feed back when tapped. Sent them back. I don't trust Brent's claims about testing so I will not order from him again.

Viva Tubes - Ok, so this seller has a bit of a reputation for hyperbole. In fact, all of his Sylvania tubes have "Bad Boy somewhere in the description, I guess for internet searches.  They are also mostly not true NOS but in his description "Tested NOS"? Whatever that means. He has a solid return policy for noise and miicrophonics so I went ahead and got a pair of Sylvania 2 rivet, bottom Getters, dated around 53. Tubes are great, pins needed cleaning but they sound great and have very low microphonics and no noise to speak of. So positive experience here.

TCtubes - Got a pair of 56 RCA GTB's just now. Zero microphonics, tubes look NOS, pins are clean. Burning them in but expect them to end up being keepers.  These guys are very responsive to emails, they just do not have a big inventory of 6sn7 but I'll buy from them in the future.

Vintage Tube Services - Andy has a great reputation and is 6 weeks behind on orders (maybe more like 8) So I ordered some Ken-Rads and am still waiting.  I have high hopes for Andy's tubes. Now that I have a basic stash it won't be so hard to wait a couple of months.

I also heard good things about Upscale but they did not have much in the way of NOS 6sn7's.  A couple of other recommended dealers did not have inventory.  There is one dealer on Etsy. However, he posted a photo of Sylvania's with hand painted logo so I shied away - he is very responsive to messages however.

At any rate - I hope that Andy finally gets those Ken Rad's shipped as I think they will be a great match to the Sylvania's - best of both worlds.  BTW, so far the descriptions of tonal qualities on the Dehavilland thread have been pretty right on the money.

drew.


drewh1
Is there a book out that has pictures of each tube with a description of what to look for to definitively say what you are buying?  If not, why?  I want to know when I pay a few hundred for 50's Mullards that I'm actually getting 50's Mullards and not being scammed because of my ignorance (which is epic).  And this is doubly true when you have no clue if they are actually new tubes and no way of testing them yourself.

It seems buying NOS tubes is a great way to blow a lot of money and never know what you actually bought.  Frankly they all look alike to me -- a tube with some plates inside.

Selling 1,000 counterfeit tubes at $100 each nets you $100,000 profit and probably no one will ever take the time to hunt you down for a couple of hundred dollar loss, especially if you are overseas. 

When I read that someone has come across this magic stash of NOS tubes that someone had stashed in their uncle's garage for 70 years I immediately think scam.  It's too easy. 

It's like buying fancy fish in your supermarket -- I read that most of the time even the stores don't know what they are buying.  A fillet looks like a fillet to most everyone, even the experts.
You should give Jim at valvesnmore.com a try.  I bought some very interesting 6SN7's from him as well as my favorite Sylvania 6SN7GTA.  Smaller, boutique operation run by an honest guy.  
If you want additional detail on identifying NOS valves, check out the Tube monger site. quite a bit of into.

https://www.tubemonger.com/